After beginning the season ranked 21st in the national polls Arizona finished 83rd in the ESPN Football Power Index following the final week of the regular season. Arizona dropped 11 spots after its 49-7 loss to Arizona State to finish the 2024 season. The Wildcats are the lowest-ranked Big XII team in the FPI.
Colorado is the highest-ranked Big XII team in the FPI ranked 19th. The Buffaloes missed qualifying for the Big XII title game because of tiebreakers. Arizona State will play Iowa State for the Big XII title on Saturday. Iowa State is 23rd and Arizona State 28th in the FPI. Kansas State finished 25th among other Big XII teams.
Arizona defeated Utah and Houston for its two Big XII wins in 2024. Utah is 46th in the FPI and Houston is 80th. The Cougars passed Arizona after the results of the final week of the regular season. New Mexico who was the only other 2024 win by Arizona over a Football Bowl Subdivision team is 106th in the FPI.
Arizona finished with the 88th strength of record, 49th strength of schedule, 90th in game control and 116th in in-game win probability. The Wildcats had an overall efficiency of 38.6 out of 100 to rank 96th nationally, 43.2 offensive efficiency to rank 84th, a 38.8 defensive efficiency which was 103rd and 48.8 special teams which was 75th.
I wanted to share some thoughts to my AZ Wildcats out there. I'm glad Coach Brent Brennan will be back at the UofA. I got to spend several days with him and really enjoyed my time. It was obvious the love he has for Wildcat nation and those roots run deep. I know the outcome of…
— Nick Foles (@NickFoles) December 2, 2024
Six of Arizona's eight losses in 2024 were by at least 21 points. The other two were a 28-22 to 8-4 Texas Tech and 31-26 to 6-6 West Virginia at home. Arizona needs significant improvement in 2025 to become competitive. The Wildcats have already lost seven players who announced they will enter the transfer portal.
The season would have been much different for Arizona if it had beaten Texas Tech and West Virginia. Arizona would have gotten to six wins and been bowl-eligible. Following the disappointing season head coach Brent Brennan announced earlier this week that Arizona will be searching for new coordinators.
This off-season is critical for Brennan to evaluate the entirety of the Arizona football program, The numbers were bad for Arizona across the board. Arizona only played complementary football in its 27-3 win over Houston. The other three Arizona wins were 61-39 over New Mexico, 22-10 over Northern Arizona and 23-10 over Utah.